Last Updated on October 14, 2026 by Karl Thompson
This 20-mark Methods in Context question came up on the June 2018 A-level sociology paper, Education with Theory and Methods (7192/1), as Question 05. Below is the question, a summary of the item, some hints about how you might go about answering it, and what the examiners said about how students did.
New to these questions? Start with How to Answer Methods in Context Questions, which explains what the question asks, how it’s marked and how to plan it.
The question and item
The question was:
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge of research methods, evaluate the strengths and limitations of using participant observation to investigate pupil exclusions. (20 marks)
The item is summarised in my own words below. The original wording is in the June 2018 question paper on the AQA website.
Item C made these points:
- On the topic: exclusion takes several forms. Permanent exclusions are relatively rare; fixed-period exclusions are more common, affecting roughly one pupil in twenty. Pupils are also sent out of individual lessons, for which there is no reliable data, and some pupils effectively exclude themselves, either by truanting or by “switching off” in class. Some groups, including pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and pupils from Traveller backgrounds, are much more likely to be excluded than others.
- On the method: participant observation can get the researcher close to pupils, if they can take on a suitable role. However, it usually involves studying small groups, and its success depends on the researcher establishing a good relationship with the pupils.
Hints for answering
The item mentions several different types of exclusion. Address them all, and contrast how useful participant observation would be for researching each one:
- permanent exclusion (although the item really steers you away from this, because it’s rare)
- fixed-period exclusion (around one pupil in twenty)
- pupils excluded from lessons (no reliable data)
- self-exclusion by truanting
- self-exclusion by “switching off”
You’re also directed to discuss particular types of pupil: those with special educational needs and those from Traveller backgrounds, for example.
The paragraph on the method directs you to discuss the role you would take, among other things. NB: the question is about participant observation in general, so you can contrast overt and covert participant observation, and you should be clear which one you’re talking about at each point.
Points you could develop
- Overt participant observation as a learning support assistant is probably the only realistic way you could do this. It would be useful for gaining insight into pupils being sent out of lessons and those excluding themselves by switching off, but not for truancy, because truanting pupils aren’t there to be observed.
- In that role you could get close to SEN pupils, some of the pupils most likely to be excluded, but it would be less useful for Traveller children.
- An SEN learning support assistant could observe more than one teacher and classroom over a few weeks, which gives reasonable representativeness within one school.
- You could look for teacher bias against certain pupils in terms of why they get sent out or excluded, but this might be difficult if you are also actively trying to support learners in your role.
- Your presence might also improve behaviour and lessen the likelihood of exclusion, which would undermine the validity of what you observe.
- Practically, you’re limited to one school.
- To be ethical you would have to tell the school’s management your true purpose (perhaps investigating the teachers with the highest exclusion rates), but for validity you would want them not to know, which would be unethical. The topic is sensitive for the school too: a head teacher might well refuse access to avoid being shown to exclude too many pupils, given the damage that would do to the school’s reputation.
- Practically, you would still have to be trained as a learning assistant.
- Exclusions are relatively rare events, so you might be hanging around a long time waiting for one to happen.
- You could try to embed yourself within a group of Traveller or SEN pupils to get their take on school, which might give you real insight, but this is not practical for an adult researcher.
- Ultimately you’d have to combine participant observation with unstructured interviews to really find out why exclusions happen, which is possible if you’re overt but not if you’re covert.
Not an exhaustive list, just a few ideas… NB: you would need to use more methods concepts (validity, reliability, representativeness, the Hawthorne effect, verstehen and so on) in a full answer, and finish with a conclusion on whether participant observation is a good method for this topic.
For more on the method itself, see Participant Observation to Research Education and Overt Participant Observation. For the research contexts, see Researching Pupils and Researching in Classrooms.
What the examiners said
The AQA’s report on this exam said that few students managed to apply their knowledge of the method to the specific issue of exclusions. In summary:
- The strongest answers understood participant observation confidently and picked up points from the item, such as the importance of a good relationship with pupils, linking them to validity (for example, by taking on a role such as a teaching assistant). They applied the method directly to exclusions: excluded pupils are, by definition, often not in school, so they can’t be observed in the classrooms where exclusion usually begins. And they discussed access and gatekeepers in relation to exclusions specifically, not just education in general.
- Weaker answers described the method well but didn’t apply its strengths and limitations to exclusions, or even to education. Many didn’t distinguish clearly between overt and covert participant observation, for example presenting the Hawthorne effect as a problem for the method in general.
- Most students used the item, but often superficially, lifting phrases such as “small groups” without linking them to a strength or limitation of the method.
The examiners’ example of the kind of point that reaches the top band: a head teacher might restrict a researcher’s access to avoid being exposed as excluding too many pupils, because of the damage that would do to the school’s reputation in the education market.
Sources and signposting
For more Methods in Context questions with answers, see How to Answer Methods in Context Questions and Methods in Context Questions: A Full Mark Answer from the AQA. For more general exam advice, see my exams and past papers page.
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